WHAT'S WHAT in IRISH GENEALOGY

		Where to Start Guidance by GORRY RESEARCH

If you're new to tracing your ancestry or new to tracing your Irish ancestry, you may need a few pointers on where to start. The first thing to remember is that there is no point in attempting to trace remote ancestors till you have done the groundwork by checking and verifying the details on your immediate ancestors. If you live in Ireland you should visit the National Library's Genealogy Service for free expert advice on where to start. If you're someone of Irish origin living overseas there is no point in coming to Ireland to trace an ancestor who may have emigrated about 1850 and who may have been from Cork. You need hard facts. That means beginning your search in your home country with:

• family sources (oral tradition, family Bible, certificates, letters, memorial cards, photographs,etc.).
  
  
• documentary evidence (census returns, vital records, church records, land records, naturalization papers, passenger lists, etc.).

There is no substitute for this preliminary research. You will find a brief description of the main classes of records available in various countries in the guidebook Tracing Irish Ancestors by Máire Mac Conghail and Paul Gorry (HarperCollins, Glasgow, 1997).

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If you feel you need professional help at this preliminary stage, there are researchers throughout the world concentrating on sources in their specific area. Local libraries often have lists of such researchers. There are also many overseas genealogists who specialize in "linking" Irish emigrant ancestors to their place of origin within Ireland. Once you have got all there is to get out of records in your own country you will be in one of three situations:

1. the information on your emigrant ancestor is INSUFFICIENT TO ALLOW for worthwhile research in surviving records within Ireland. [Your only option in this case, if you haven't already tried it, is to contact a genealogist in your country specializing in linking emigrants. You have to remember that it's not possible to trace ALL emigrants to a location within Ireland.]
   
   
2. the information on your emigrant ancestor is SUFFICIENT ONLY TO ALLOW for research of a general nature (e.g., on the distribution of the surname within a specific area) in the hope of identifying the ancestor's place of origin.
   
   
3. the information on your emigrant ancestor is SPECIFIC ENOUGH TO ALLOW for worthwhile research in records within Ireland.

If you are in the second or third category, you have a number of options.

You could:

• consult a guidebook
  
  
• commission a Research Assessment
  
  
• commission a search with one of the various genealogists, indexing centres or record agents who conduct research within Ireland
  
  
• come to Ireland and avail of the free advice offered in the National Library's Genealogy Service

Once you have got to this point you'll be much more familiar with the subject and you may find much of the information contained in the various pages of WHAT'S WHAT in IRISH GENEALOGY of assistance.

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